Judge: Oberstown reports are ‘meaningless, unhelpful mush’

A district judge attacked the Oberstown youth detention and education centre in Dublin yesterday for incompetence and providing a report on a very troubled teenager which he dismissed as meaningless, unhelpful mush.

“I asked for an assessment to be carried out [of a very troubled 16-year-old] and when it came back to me I was somewhat bewildered by the information I got, partly because Oberstown had information they did not want to share with me,” Judge Con O’Leary said.

A team from ACTS, the Assessment Consultation Therapy Service, met with the accused and reported to Oberstown who in turn prepared a report for Judge O’Leary. But the judge said he wanted to see what those with experience in such cases had to say about the teenager so that he could make a decision in the case that would be of benefit to the community.